The Teslin Tlingit Council (TTC) has filed a petition with the Yukon Supreme Court against the Government of Canada.

It’s seeking to negotiate a renewed Financial Transfer Agreement (FTA) that provides adequate funding for the self-governing First Nation as required in its Final and Self-Government Agreements.

Rather than accepting the federal government’s request to extend for a third time the current FTA that TTC accepted in 2010 “due to funding needs,” the First Nation is seeking legal orders regarding Canada’s obligation to negotiate with the TTC a renewed and adequate transfer agreement – “and that failure to do so is an error of law,” the petition reads.

“It was a last resort,” TTC Chief Richard Sidney told the Star this morning.

“We’ve given them every opportunity to come to the table in an honourable way to recognize and honour their commitment by way of the agreements to us.”

Sidney was a lead negotiator for his First Nation when TTC’s Final and Self-Government Agreements were brokered in the 1990s with the federal and Yukon governments.

In an affidavit accompanying the petition, Sidney explained that TTC made “enormous sacrifices,” including the surrender of aboriginal title to 90 per cent of the First Nation’s territory, when it entered into these agreements.

“We did so on the understanding that our rights and self-government would be truly recognized and supported by the Crown.

“FTA negotiations and funding have instead undermined our ability to govern and serve our Nation as intended by our agreements.”

The TTC’s financial transfer agreements – contracts that provide for Canada’s funding of the First Nation’s self-government – have been fundamentally flawed since the original FTA in 1995, according to the affidavit.

The current FTA constitutes approximately 70 per cent of TTC’s budgeted funding. It does not fund the First Nation government at a level that allows it to provide comparable services to those available in the rest of the Yukon. The federal government also provides annual funding to the Yukon government through financial transfer agreements.

Education, health, housing and elder care are highlighted in Sidney’s affidavit as limited and/or failing TTC service areas.

TTC citizens have to move to Whitehorse for high school after Grade 9, for example, because further education is not available in their community.

“Insufficient and substandard housing for citizens, particularly elders, is another key area of significant inadequacy,” the affidavit reads.

Comparability is one of six core principles the TTC claims in its petition that the current FTA fails to satisfy.

It accompanies the requirement in the First Nation’s agreements for funding to be needs-based, adequate and progressive, and consider the First Nations’ demography and governmental responsibilities.

“Canada has been aware since at least 2006 that reviews conducted jointly by the parties have concluded that FTA resources are inadequate, fail to account for the specific circumstances and needs of TTC as a Self-Governing First Nation,” the petition reads.

Rather than negotiate with TTC to improve the FTA, Sidney told the Star, the federal government has chosen to focus on national fiscal policy discussions.

As a result, TTC is being treated more like an Indian Act band, rather than a self-governing First Nation with different funding needs, the petition argues.

In doing so, Ottawa is breaching its agreements with the First Nation, and the honour of the Crown.

“I really didn’t like ending the 2017 year with serving the petition against the Government of Canada,” Sidney said this morning.

But he drew a line in the sand, the chief explained – and the feds crossed it.

After multiple attempts to get Ottawa to negotiate a new FTA, Sidney spoke to Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, before she arrived in the territory for an Intergovernmental Forum with the Yukon and First Nations governments last Friday.

“I provided her notice that I would be expecting some indication of their willingness to negotiate at the Intergovernmental Forum,” he said.

“I didn’t receive any indication ... so I had no choice but to serve the government.”

The chief said he’s hoping the legal action prompts a different response from what TTC has seen up until this point.

“I would want to see them respond in an honourable fashion, some commitment that we will enter into a process that would essentially respect the terms of our agreements and allow us to negotiate a renewed financial transfer agreement.”

The Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Yukon office could not provide a comment to the Star before press time this afternoon.